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um what you have in front of you in
terms of this dawa manual this is
something uh coming from the Q guest
Center where I work in qat uh where we
have set up this da training course
usually it runs for nine days 2 hours
each day in the evening uh taking
professionals from different walks of
life and giving them the necessary
training basic training to be able to do
daah you know amongst the non-muslims
that are many there uh so what we're
looking at is something very condensed
means I won't be able to go over it with
the kind of depth that uh we do it there
uh so it means I'm going to be skimming
be touching main points and the
materials there in your hands it's for
you to read and get more depth out of it
this is the main point the other point
to note that we do when we do this
course we have assignments that we give
the people who participate in the course
if you go to page five you'll say this
is a page for course assignments and
obviously some of them are not going to
be relevant to you because it's talking
about weekly assignments Etc and we're
doing everything in two days you know
you 2 hours over two
days but um one which is which is I
think relevant to you all is that uh
between today and
tomorrow I would like you each to
prepare a dawa
plan a plan for da wherever you are
whatever area of work you are involved
in or study or whatever uh for you to
lay down a plan of how you would
consistently uh be involved in dawa
right and this is uh as a part of an
exercise for you to uh try to utilize
what you have now after we've finished
the course you can try to modify that
and see how you can improve it you know
um also those issues that you're faced
with we can try to answer some of them
in the question sessions so by trying to
develop a DA plan you know the issues
that you may not have thought of uh just
sitting in the class you know would it
would come up you would have an idea
that I'm faced with this how do I do
this how can I do da in this
circumstance or that circumstance Etc so
this is very important and of course
this is following the basic you know uh
managerial principle if you fail to plan
you plan to fail right so you have some
plan you're going to give dawa you need
to have worked out some plan for that
dawa if you're just going to go out and
do it as it comes you know likely Your
da is going to be weak it will not have
the kind of consistency it would if you
actually planned it out uh the other
thing uh again it's quite difficult for
you to do it between now and uh tomorrow
but um if you can before the end you
know tomorrow between today and tomorrow
if you can at least try to meet one
non-muslim right and try to give them
dawa and make a record of your encounter
if you're go page
105 right this is at the end of the book
second last last page from the end of
the book there is a a DA encounter in
evaluation sheet where you try to give
dawa to a non-muslim and you record your
experience right and U this you can make
other photocopies of and try to uh
record what you're doing so you can um
uh check yourself see your own
Improvement you know check your progress
actually this is I mean if there is a
system here or there we have a committee
which goes back and looks over these
things we meet you know after a month's
time and people give up their
evaluations and we see you know how
things are going how we can help them
Etc you know but uh this maybe this the
society the ansar uh committee they can
try to develop this further you know to
to keep a tabs with people and their
progress in the field of dawa because of
course any of these kind of things that
we do you want some followup it's not
you know it's useless to just do
something it's you know everybody's
hyped up wonderful today and then after
some time it will Peter out you know if
there's no followup there should be some
kind of followup for those people who
have attended the course you know how
they're doing now how they're
progressing what problems they're facing
how can we resolve it who can you
cooperate with cuz often times you know
that we're trying to do it as an
individual it has its own uh drawbacks
whereas trying to do it you know as with
other people who are in the same field
or in similar Fields this will help uh
to give you greater success in your da
and of course success ultimately is with
Allah the last Point uh which which has
to do with conversion stories I mean we
will have uh some people give their
conversion stories tomorrow but between
now and then or shortly
thereafter uh you can go to different
websites like sultan. org islamworld786
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the turning point in each person's story
what was the point which caused that
person to become a Muslim look at that
point and just make a note of it in a
short paragraph or whatever you know uh
what was that turning point and how
would I utilize that turning point in my
da right so you're not just reading
stories for the entertainment very nice
story but what practical use is it how
can I utilize that what can I how can I
cater my da to utilize that particular
point so this is what I would ask you to
do
uh uh for yourselves and also for the
course the first topic is that of the
dawa
itself as an introduction to dawa
understanding basically that's the the
first section deals with the the
obligation of dawa to understand that it
is not just something which is
Sunnah that people categorize da often
times they look at it as being something
which is Sunnah if you do it you get
reward but if you don't do it no harm
but the point is that the term Sunnah
includes also things which are
obligatory it's from the Sunnah for
example from the prophet Salli wasallam
he is told us from the Sunnah that
uh in terms of our obligatory acts
say attending Sal you'll not find it in
the Quran anywhere right but Salat the
obligation of its attendance comes from
the Sunnah but it's and so we can say it
is from the Sunnah but it is from the
Sunnah which identifies what is
obligatory so from the Sunnah there is
what identifies what is obligatory what
is recommended what is permissible what
is disliked and even what is
Haram the Sunnah will identify for you
things which are Haram which you may not
find in the Quran you know eating of
birds of prey for example it's not in
the Quran it is from the Sunnah that it
is identified so this term Sunnah you
know it's there are two meanings of it
and people mix up these meanings when
you're using it one context it means
something that the prophet Sall wasallam
said did or approved
and something which is good to do if you
do it you're rewarded if you don't do it
there's no punishment see these are
these are technical terms used in two
different fields one is in the science
of Hadith it has a particular meaning
one is in the science of right Islamic
law it has another meaning so it is you
know important to understand that this
term Sunnah is not an excuse for not to
do
dawa right that in fact the dawa was the
methodology of the prophet prophets that
was their lives that was their life's
mission was dawa conveying the word of
Allah to humankind and Allah Praises
those who do it throughout the Quran
there are many verses mentioned here you
know uh regarding it
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um who's better in speech than one who
calls to Allah and does righteous deeds
and says indeed I'm among the Muslims
Allah praises the one who calls to Allah
highly praised and the prophet s wasam
of course you know had mentioned that
whoever calls to guidance will receive
the same reward as the one who follows
him without any decrease in the reward
of his followers you know it's a basic
principle anybody who accepts Islam or
anybody who finds their way to Islam as
a result of your effort then you will
get reward from whatever that person
does you know and of course each and
every one of us on the day of judgment
will be in need of whatever Good Deeds
we can find alhamdulillah know this is a
massive source of Good Deeds we will see
coming for us we'll wonder where it came
from because you do that good and you
don't know the consequence where it
where it goes you know ultimately you do
the best that you can and inshallah that
can be multiplied many many times over
for
you anyway the point is that uh dawa as
I said is an obligation it is an
obligation basically according to one's
ability though Scholars have divided it
into different categories what they call
the individual obligation
or and the community obligation
or Scholars have divided into two these
two categories however uh the reality is
that it is
today an individual obligation and
Scholars like shik bbas you know he said
very clearly you know in looking at this
that at a time when there is a shortage
of of callers when evil is prevalent and
ignorance dominates sounds like our
times right da becomes on everyone
according to their
ability it becomes according to for
everyone according to their
ability
so we cannot find any excuse
not to give
da and there are so many different ways
actually in the book there's one
section on uh tips for daah actually
it's called go it's on page uh 50
through page 57 called more than 80 ways
to make
da more than 80 ways to make
dawa for all the different circumstan at
school at home the the workplace you
know wherever there are many many tips
here really there's no there's so many
different ways what happens that people
don't stop and think about it don't stop
and analyze it you know you just say
well you know I'm in a class uh I stud
non-muslim students are with me for a
minute and they're gone you know how can
I give dawa they don't stop and think
out in a day where do I meet non-muslims
how many times do I meet them you know
what are the different ways to give da
is it only just talking to people no
it could be giving them a pamphlet
giving them a
brochure is you know anyway the point is
that as we said today it is an
obligation on each and every one of us
and the prophet s wasallam so as for a
person not to say well according to
Ability I don't have any ability you
know I my knowledge of Islam is very
weak Etc Prophet wasam
said convey whatever you've learned from
me even if it's only one verse from the
Quran and each and every one of us
knows is the essence of the
message it is is the solution to the
problems of all of these other uh
religions and communities Etc because
they don't
know now you might think that means
say he Allah is one but that's not what
it
means doesn't mean one it means uniquely
one and there's a difference because he
Allah would have
said and is one of the names of
Allah but that's not the term he used
here he
used and there is a fine distinction
between and what is that distinction I
can
say I have one book
here but you can also have one book she
can also have one book many different
people can have one one book but when I
say I have one book using the term it
means one book like which there is no
other uniquely one and this is the
essence of the
message that Allah is uniquely
one to convey that the rest of the
Surah all of that is explanation of
so the essence of that Surah
which uh the Companions and others used
to call it
Surah we know it asah but they used to
call it commonly Surah they call itah
also but Surah because it has the
essence of the message of so powerful
that the prophet s wasallam said that
it's equivalent to a third of the
Quran if we were to divide of the Quran
into three parts
its meanings into three
parts identifies one whole section of
the Quran right so everybody has that so
nobody can say I can't give da da to
that no
excuse
furthermore in order to stress that this
is not just a
recommendation you find in both the
Quran and the Sunnah
curse a curse placed by Allah on those
who don't give
dawa those who have the means who have
the
knowledge and they don't convey the
message they are cursed by Allah and we
can find that in Bak verse
159 indeed Those Who hide the clear
messages and guidance that I revealed
after I've made it clear to the people
in the scripture those are cursed by
Allah and cursed by all who would curse
and the prophet wasam had
said whoever hides knowledge by which
Allah benefits people in their Affairs
in the Affairs of their religion Allah
will Bridle him on the day of
Resurrection with a bridal from the
Hellfire this is serious and it's one of
the basic principles in
in that if the
consequence of an
action is that one receives punishment
from the Hellfire as a bridal bridal is
what you put on a horse to control him
right if the consequence is the Hellfire
an element of the Hellfire then it means
that that act is
Haram so it is Haram not to give daah
when one is
able now of course one may say I'm not
really hiding
knowledge you know because when we think
of hiding knowledge we think in terms of
somebody coming to you and say can you
tell me about Islam and you say to them
no I don't think you deserve to know
about Islam because you know you
britishers are involved in Iraq and
killing our Muslim brothers so I'm not
going to tell you about Islam you know
okay that's obviously hiding the
knowledge that's in the obvious sense
and of course that's not
permissible not
permissible but there is indirect hiding
indirect hiding means that you had the
means you know this is a person who
studies with you in the University
you've known them for the last four
years you studied throughout the
university you knew them they're in all
your classes you talk to them about
homework you talk to them about
everything anything under the sun except
for
Islam you have hidden the knowledge you
had all the means but you hid that
knowledge and of course on the day of
judgment that person will curse you that
person when Allah calls up that person
for judgment that person will curse you
will ask Allah double that person's
punishment
so the obligation of conveying The
Message of Islam is not something to be
taken
lightly and of course some people uh as
a shortcut will say
well actually giving da is being taken
care of we have
jamat you know there's that's jat da
they're doing the da so therefore the
obligation on the individual has been
taken care of because jat is doing it
but it's enough for us to to to
recognize that the methodology of
jamat is to call Muslims
only they tell their followers this is
their philosophy their approach don't go
and call the non-muslims call the
Muslims why
because if you
invite a non-muslim into Islam Today and
Muslims are in such bad shape it will
drive them out so you need to clean up
your house before you invite anybody in
this is the philosophy of course it
sounds quite logical quite reasonable
however that was not the methodology of
prophet Muhammad wasallam that was not
his methodology he called everybody
whether you're a Muslim after you became
Islam became a Muslim you know or
whether you were a non-muslim he gave
the dawa so dawa is not restricted and
should not be restricted to any one
group even if for example we say okay
we're focusing on non-muslims which was
you know the methodology of the prophet
wasallam and a Muslim comes
along right and you say well no no you
know my focus is on non-muslims so I'm
not going to deal with you well of
course remember in the Quran Allah said
what what is that Surah all about
Prophet muhami wasallam wanting to deal
with a group of leaders of the
non-muslims a Muslim came to him needed
some da and he turned away what did
Allah La do Allah chided him we
shouldn't have done that
give the man the message you know in
fact he has the first right to
it you see so for for our dawa it is not
limited to any one group some people try
to make a distinction between dawa and
what they call islah we use da when
we're calling non-muslims and isah when
we're calling Muslims but really this is
a technical definition which they have
made which is not really from the
statements of the Prophet Sall wasallam
you know or the sahabah Etc they use
dawa to cover everything if you want to
make that distinction in terms of your
own program there's no harm it's not to
say you're doing a b something evil Etc
but know that ultimately according to
Arabic language dawa includes both
because it's
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da and that is what the full
translation of or or term
is and actually we've now entered into
the uh characteristics of the call Da
that is the full
term calling to Allah that's what the
dawa is to Da is not to my group the ANS
you know or or whatever you know where
people who get caught up into groupism
their da ends up being to groups so you
first thing you tell a person they're
coming into Islam you're calling them to
Islam or they just came into Islam which
group are you going to
join you know our group right this is
this is the group you know we're the
ones who called you you should join our
group right so no they're not calling to
Allah anymore you're calling to your
group or you're calling to a maab or
you're calling to you know this is not
this is not the da the da is calling to
Allah subhana wa ta'ala
to Islam as it was revealed
Islam as it was revealed huh so what
does that mean if we're calling to a
maab you know and some people
unfortunately will call to a maab you
come into Islam they'll say to you
listen you have to follow a
maab best maab to follow is the hanfi
maab why because most Muslims are
hanafis most Muslims are hanafis that's
the biggest uh group so better you
become a
no we have to say to them what was the
maab of Abu hura he was a
Hani what about the maab of you know Abu
hanifah was he a
hanafi if you asked Abu what was your
maab you think he would say I'm a Hani
no he wouldn't Imam Malik Imam Shafi
they going to say I was a shaf I was a
Maliki I no none of them would say that
what would be their answer what is the
answer of the sahabah what is the answer
of the the great imams what were the
answer when you asked them what was your
maab tell
me what was the maab of the
sahaba they it was the mhab of the
Prophet sallallah alh wasallam which is
Quran sunah know but we say it is the
maab of the Prophet Muhammad wasallam
that was the maab they were following
they were trying to follow the way of
the Prophet
wasallam so that's what we call
to that's what they call to that's what
we should be calling to the way of the
Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam that
is embodied in the Quran and the Sunnah
but it is not just the Quran and the
Sunnah but the Quran and the Sunnah as
it was understood by the sahabah and the
and the great imams Etc not the Quran
and the Sunnah as you understand it you
you know because if we were to hear the
Quran and the Sunnah as understands it
then we have something else you know you
have you have a movement which is
denying
the and know they say we follow Quran
and
Sunnah or even
theis they say we follow Quran and
Sunnah but they say Muhammad wasn't the
last of the prophets right so just
saying I follow Quran and Sunnah is not
enough in terms of of understanding yes
I can say I follow the Quran and Sunnah
that's perfectly legitimate but what do
you mean by that the Quran and Sunnah as
understood by whom by
you because you have people today doing
that too you know you have some sisters
who are following the Quran who say they
following the Quran and Sunnah and who
were saying well you know we need a
female taper of the
Quran you know because all the MU all
those who made tap of the Quran they're
all men so they made tap from a men's
perspective we need a today in times we
need a female muf I mean as if a female
muas was following the the way of the
early uh Generations is going to come up
with a different taper you
know but this is the modern
understanding the individual
understanding so we say that the dawa
itself is a dawa to Allah and not to uh
aab Etc asaz had mentioned the way of
Allah the mighty and Majestic is
submission the straight path the
religion of Allah which he sent his
messenger with therefore this is what
must be called to not the maab of such
and such a person nor the opinion of any
individual the way of Allah is that
which the noble Quran and the pure
authentic Sunnah of the Messenger s
wasallam directs one two it is necessary
for the Muslim missionary Muslim caller
to Allah to call people to the whole of
Islam and not to cause division among
among them nor to be a blind follower of
any maab a tribe A sheh or a leader
rather his aim should be to affirm and
clarify the truth and establish people
upon that truth even if it contradicts
the opinion of so such and such a person
or so and
so so this is the essence of the dawa it
is to the way of the Prophet Sall
wasallam as it was understood by the
early generations and of course there
are a number of different references
that the prophet wasallam made to that
way because you find people say well you
know in Islam um there are many ways why
should we restrict things to one
way there are many ways but actually if
you listen to that argument that is like
the argument of those who say there are
many ways to Allah you have people out
there who say there are many ways to
Allah even some people who call
themselves Muslims they're known as the
perennialists
perennialists who have headquarters here
in the UK you know the Islamic Tech
Society if you've seen or if you know
that that group I mean they promote this
idea this idea that all religions really
as long as you're sincere you're on a
path to
Allah that religions in relationship to
Allah is like a wheel it has Spokes and
a hub in the middle all the spokes lead
to the hub so if you're a sincere
Buddhist true sincere Buddhist or you're
a sincere Christian or a sincere Hindu
whatever or Muslim you're all headed to
Allah of course we reject
this Allah says very clear whoever
accepts a religion other than
Islam whoever takes other than Islam as
his or her religion it will not be
accepted from them finish there's only
one one way there's only one religion so
as there's only one
God and there's only one human race
that's why we don't need many religions
for all those people out there in the
dawa field you run into people who say
well you know what's wrong you know
we're all believing in God we're all
doing good things so and so and so you
know why do you want to restrict why is
it only your religion because God only
provided one religion for people he
didn't want
confusion he's not the author of confus
confusion so human need is one from the
time of Adam to the last person of this
world human nature will not change the
need for human beings will not will
remain the same so we only need one
religion so God only re revealed one
religion so as there's one God one human
race there's only one religion and
there's only one way to follow that
religion there's not many ways cuz again
you're ending up in
confusion there's only one way to follow
it but that way
we have Unfortunately today some people
who want to make that way so narrow it's
like a thread if you just put your foot
slightly to the side you're off you know
and then you're maligned and attacked
and you're deviant and this that and the
other they've made that way so narrow
that if they were to apply that way to
the sahabah they would be cutting
sahabas off the
manh
sahab IMs left and right all the way
down because they've gone to the Other
Extreme yes it is one way but it is a
Broadway it does allow for
differences
amongst in issues that may be issues of
a say people say no it's differences in
but we not allow differences in a why
notah differed over some issues of
AA they did differ and so did the and so
did the imams ETC they different over
issues of different over issues of
a differences will exist but there are
not fundamental differences nobody was
differing whether La is one or not no
nobody's differing whether Salah is waj
five times a day or not no there are
basic issues of the diff the dean there
are no
differences but there are secondary
issues related to both
and about which people differed from the
time of the
sahab that's reality so if we can accept
from the time of the sahabah some
differences then we should be able to
accept them today also that's the bottom
line that we have a level of Tolerance
which will allow for
differences you know it is one
way it is one
path and we know it's not one just based
on our own desires it is one based on
knowledge so we find for example
example
uh the prophet wasallam
saying this is my path and I call to
Allah with clear
knowledge clear
knowledge come calling to Allah with
what is clear
so we don't call to
Allah based on
doubts
on things which we're unclear about
ourselves
supposition maybe possibly no we call to
Allah based on what is clear so that is
essential principle in the calling to
Allah and of course when we call to
Allah call people to Allah meaning
calling them to the religion of
Allah the religion of Allah has a
variety of
elements and we have to have and we have
to put these elements in some kind of an
order of
priority what do we call them to First
and we know Prophet wasallam when he
sent to Yemen he said
you you'll be going to to Christians and
Jews so the first thing that you should
invite them to is the assertion of the
Oneness of Allah so that is the core
message that should be what we focus on
however that doesn't mean that in every
conversation you have with anybody
calling them to
Islam it has to be on the Oneness of
Allah somebody comes and asks you about
hijab why do Muslim women cover
themselves up you know why are you
forcing to men they will say why are you
forcing your women to cover themselves
up or to women why do you women allow
men to force you to cover yourselves up
you cannot ignore their question and say
listen Allah is one right this is what
you need to know don't worry about why
we do this or why no you need to know
Allah is one that's true they do need to
know Allah is one but in the course of
giving dawa you know you must deal with
the questions that they
raise you fulfill fill what they are
trying to uh get clarity on and then you
try to bring that back to Allah because
of course when you describe hijab you
know you will describe you know the
purposes of hijab which Allah has
identified in the Quran so you take it
back to Allah ultimately but you must
deal with what is in front of you but
you have an idea you have a focus what
is the most important point that I need
to get to this person what is going to
save them on the day of judgment whether
they accept hijab or they don't accept
hijab you might find a nun right a
Catholic nun who accepts hijab wonderful
beautiful but she's on a path to hell so
it's not accepting hijab or not
accepting hijab is not going to
necessarily make a difference whether a
person makes it to Paradise or not
but what will make the difference is
whether they believe in the Oneness the
unique Oneness of
allaha and we also find you know a good
example of that in the case of prophet
yussef you know in the prison when the
people were with him and they asked him
to explain their dreams for them you
know he took that opportunity while
explaining their dreams for them to call
them to the Oneness of Allah same thing
with Prophet Isa as a child when he his
mother brought him to the people and
they were shocked they're questioning
her how could you do this you know
you're a righteous woman your mother was
a righteous woman woman how could you do
this and she pointed to Prophet Isa you
know he dealt with it he clarified that
his mother was a righteous woman but he
used that opportunity to call them to
the Oneness of Allah so that is the
unique Oneness of Allah is the main uh
goal actually uh the first two chapters
you have questions on page 10 and Page
15 those are for you to go over just to
make sure you have caught what you're
supposed to catch from that
[Music]
we're calling people to Islam and we
have to be aware of
certain issues concerning them you know
we have a context as we said we don't
call by just saying Allah is one
everybody you go to Allah is one Allah
is one Allah is one no matter what
circumstance you find yourself and
you're saying to people Allah one it's
true but that message has to be uh
brought in a way which is suitable for
that particular circumstance that you're
calling
to and we have to even before looking at
how do we uh cloak that message how do
we present that message in such a way
that it will effectively Reach people we
have to keep our basic objectives in
sight the issue is are we trying to
convert people people or are we
communicating with them and conveying a
message we have to have that clear
because if in our minds dawa means your
your main program is converting people
then of course when you get out there
and you try to convert people most
people will not
convert so you will loose you will feel
failure you will feel you know a failure
you'll feel within yourself you know
weakness and you know oh you know I'm
useless I can't do this I knew
it because you had the wrong idea in
mind whereas if you know that the
responsibility is
what but meaning conveying the
message that this is what the essence of
it is as Allah had said to the prophet
wasam
indeed you cannot guide whom you love
but Allah guides whom he Wills he's
telling Prophet Muhammad wasallam that
and who are
we Prophet mammi wasallam was not able
to guide Abu
Talib so close to him who protected him
who raised him who gave his own child to
him to
raise he couldn't guide
him so then
what as Allah told the prophet wasam
the only obligation on the messenger is
to give the clear message that is the
obligation giving the clear
message so if we understand that then
that takes a weight off our backs takes
a big burden from us we're not now
having to convert people we're just
about trying to get that message across
and to get it across effectively and
well right so there are some principles
that we should keep in mind when we are
trying to get across that message
effectively first of the principles it
is listen before you
speak listen before you speak meaning
what meaning yes you have a message you
want to tell people but if your approach
is just as soon as you meet a person you
just Ramble On you know you just give
them the you know you're a preacher
you're out there giving them the whole
story you don't have any idea
what their ideas are what their issues
are so on so you're just coming and
telling them you
know so what happens you're out there
you're telling a Jehovah's witness that
God didn't have a son Jesus is not the
Son of God and all the sudden after you
talk to him for one hour he tells you
guess what I didn't believe that Jesus
had a son Jehovah's Witness is don't
believe that Jesus have a son had a son
that that uh sorry that God had a son
that uh Jesus was uh
created he was created yes they're using
the term son but he was not the begotten
son so they don't have that belief so
you just wasted one hour you know when
they didn't you and you might even find
many Christians for
example remember they did surveys among
the Bishops of England here and found
that more than 50% of the Bishops didn't
believe that Jesus was the son of God
that Jesus was God
didn't believe that so if the Bishops
have that belief then you can imagine
what is amongst the common people so
though yes there is an official belief
line a Creed people are still believing
whatever they feel like believing so you
as a DI one who is not saying you know
that's my 24-hour Duty no I'm I'm I have
different fields that I work in ETC but
I know that wherever I am I have a duty
to convey the word of Allah as long as
there's an opportunity for me to do so
so what is my
Approach my Approach here should be that
like that of a
doctor how the doctor deals with his
patient when you're going to see the
doctor does he start writing the
prescription already before you even
reach the seat he's writing out a
prescription when you got to the seat he
just gives you the prescription you say
shakran and you
leave no he has to hear what your
problems are he has to listen to you
hear what is your problem after he has
understood your illness then he
prescribes the suitable remedy and
that's the same thing in daah we're
going to convey to them the message but
how do we convey it it's like medicine
we have to convey it in the way which is
suitable for that particular person that
we are giving the dawa to so we need to
hear what they have to say hear their
ideas what are their thoughts right
second point to keep in mind is that you
should
put yourself in other people's shoes
meaning when you're giving
dawa the language that you're
using stop and
think if I were a
non-muslim who knew nothing about
Islam would this have any value to me
you're giving da to somebody a
non-muslim knows nothing about Islam and
you're quoting from the
Quran you're quoting what Propet
muhammedi wasallam said you're quoting
what Sheikh so and so
said this person doesn't even believe in
Islam at all has no belief in Islam
you're going to tell them what does the
Quran mean to them nothing so you're
quoting the Quran to them is useless
you're not putting yourself in their
shoes now the message of the Quran you
can tell them of course in the course of
your da the message of the Quran should
be that because when we said you know
calling to Allah
this means according to Quran and Sunnah
and the understanding of the those
earlier Generations we take their
understanding but we put it in a
language which is applicable to that
person so just putting ourselves in
their
shoes we should uh think just stop and
think for ourselves for a moment and
that's one of the important things which
come up with in this line is using the
term
Allah you using the term Allah this is
something in dawa people have debated
about should we use the term God or
should we use the term
Allah now what you find is surveys which
have been done among
non-muslims have shown
clearly that the vast majority of them
believe or think that Allah is a
different God from the god they believe
in it's the god of the Muslims you know
like the Hindus have Shiva ganes the
Muslims have Allah some of them even you
know made articles about it Mor did a
thing about the moon God Allah is the
moon god of the Muslims you know all
kinds of foolishness out there so once
you use the term Allah to somebody who
has not been familiarized has not been
given an understanding then that is
going to conjure up in their minds all
kinds of other images Etc which just
going to affect your dawa
so really it is most effective really in
giving daa to non-muslims it's better to
use the term God and you clarify who God
really is because ultimately the god
they believe in is the same God we
believe in but they have got some
misconceptions about God that he had a
son that he became a man you know and a
variety of other things connected to it
but we clarify those
misconceptions but it's the same God
ultimately and we need to start from
that common ground with them you know so
again this is the issue of putting
yourself in another person's shoes
understanding how they are looking at
Islam the world of Islam Etc in the
course of giving our daa we are looking
at the called the context in which we're
giving our dawa what are the issues that
we need to keep in mind we said there
were three basic issues that we should
start off with understanding whether
we're trying to convert people or convey
a message message we said it was really
conveying the message uh we said also
listening before we speak that's
important if you want to convey a
message you need to listen and know what
you should be what message you should be
giving how you should be giving that
message and also we said we should put
ourselves in the shoes of others hear
ourselves hear our terminologies how we
are expressing that message is it in a
way which would encourage understanding
from the non-muslims or is it a way
which is going to create more questions
and doubts in their
minds now as a general principle when we
come into a new situation we have to
assess that
situation assess
it judge what is the
circumstance that
we uh judge what is the circumstance
that we have found ourselves
in among the things that we need to keep
in mind when we assessing a situation is
our
timing
that the message has to be given at the
appropriate
times meaning that we don't try to do
everything at one time somebody
expresses some interest I'd like to know
something about Islam you bring for them
a carton of books
no this is bad timing give them a
pamphlet let them read that after
they've absorb that information they
show further interest you give them
something else you work with them you
know don't overload this is information
overload bad
timing
also what we need to keep in
mind is the audience
itself the nature of the audience
and what is most important in that is
what we call the group mentality if
you're talking to people as a
group they function
differently from people as
individuals meaning if you sat and you
talk with a person by themselves they
might agree with you they might listen
and etc etc but then you find that same
person in a group you try to talk to
them and you find that they're not
they're siding with the group
because that is the nature of people
when you're with a group this is the pre
what they call peer pressure you know
you don't want to say anything that is
going to make your group look at you you
know negatively so you'll go along with
it even though in your heart you agree
with what the person is saying but in
that group situation you're
caught so the dawa in
general if you have a choice between
talking to a person in a group you know
a student in your class for example
there are other students
around they want to ask something about
Islam something like this better to talk
to them
separately to talk to them while their
friends are around with them you know
then you will not get as good a response
as if you talk to them by themselves cuz
people are much more because they don't
feel any pressure on them there're it's
much more easy for them
to accept to uh discuss things out
without it being under the pressure of
an
audience so it is important for us to
know and to avoid uh those kind of
circumstances where we can however there
are circumstances where you can't avoid
it you know you've been invited to speak
to a group what do you do you'll say
sorry I can only speak to individuals no
you speak to the group you try to get
some you know message across to them as
a group and of course it's best to use
uh principle
tools which are which will bring out
their
ideas the idea of listening because of
course listen before you speak doesn't
work well when you're giving a
presentation to an audience but how you
can make it work for you is involve the
audience in your presentation get them
to bring out their ideas so rather than
just tell tell tell you know you ask
them some questions what's your idea on
that what do you think you know what
have you heard let them give you some of
their ideas so they feel a a direct
involvement so you can hear some of what
they're
saying also the
location where where you're giving the
dawa you have to choose a suitable
location for that audience that you're
trying to reach there's some places that
are just not suitable you know you don't
go into a pub you know to try to give
daa yes there are non-muslims in there
and you know maybe some of them might
listen to you but that's just not an
appropriate place it's not appropriate
for the people you're trying to call to
because that is an environment of
drunkenness people might say anything
and besides that Muslims seeing you
walking into a pub you know you're just
creating problems for yourself in terms
of your own you know functioning in the
Muslim Community so you have to choose
uh locations which are approp where
people will hear you know um for example
say you're giving da at the
supermarket somebody's working on the
checkout counter you want to give them
some literature you know you see that
person's friendly type of person
whatever and so you want to give them
some literature well do you choose the
time when the place is busy you know
rush hour when people are coming in and
buying and so this is the time you want
to give the person no no there are times
in the day when nobody's coming in
hardly anybody comes in to buy anything
that's the time to
go and give the material that you want
to give so I mean even with in terms of
location there are elements of timing
that link with up with location actually
all of these are
interl then the background of the person
you're calling themselves do you call a
person who is highly educated in the
same way you call a person who is not
highly
educated is it right to make a distin
distinction in terms of how you approach
people yes yes it's quite
reasonable it's quite reasonable I mean
Ali AB Talib had said you should speak
to people according to the level of
their intelligence you make a judgment a
value judgment and you speak to them
according to what is suitable for them
it's like you're giving daa to a a young
person 15 years old you're going to give
da in the same way you give to a person
who is in their 30s
no examples you're going to use the
depth you're going to go in it's going
to be
different and similarly even you know
you're giving the message for example
you want to give the message that you
know Prophet Isa isn't or wasn't God to
a
non-muslim
now if you're talking to a person simple
background
who's not studied philosophy and all
this kind of
thing you can reach them very simply by
saying to
them could you ever be God is it
possible that you could become God if
they say yes then of course stop your
line of questioning find somebody else
somebody else is is lost it they're out
there somewhere right so the average
person who still got their sense about
them they're going to say
no I couldn't be God so you asked them
why why not why couldn't you become God
so because I'm a human being human
beings are not God can't become God so
then you ask them was Jesus Christ a
human
being and the simple person the average
person they would say yeah he was a
human
being so then it couldn't have been
God basic simple logic
simple person would say oh I never
really thought about it that way yeah
ready right it couldn't have been God
you know I I just grew up saying he was
God all along anyway you know I really
hadn't thought about it right really but
what you said is true but now if you
talk to somebody who's in University
they studied philosophy 101 or whatever
you
know then you tell that person could you
become God he said no was
Jesus a human
being he he stops he's thinking ahead
now he's not just going to answer your
question in his heart he knows yes he
was human being he should say yes but if
he says yes then he's lost the
argument so his approach will be not
quite right you
know he appeared like a human being but
really he was God or he was God inside
of a human being body or you know all
kinds of you know Christian philosophers
at the past they had all kinds of
explanations for it but that's what will
happen so the result you got from a
person who has not been his whose Nature
has not been distorted by philosophy is
different from a person who has had that
kind of
exposure so naturally when you're
approaching people you have to then
approach them in a different
manner the other thing to keep in mind
too is that in the course of giving dawa
it is good in the beginnings to focus on
people's misconceptions about
Islam in fact usually myself when I'm
invited to give a talk at universities
or whatever
non-muslim uh environments my basic
beginning talk is misconceptions about
Islam and
Muslims who are explain about
misconceptions concerning religious
issues about Allah showing them that yes
we believe in the angels and the
resurrection and the things that you
believe in I mean of course there are
some differences you know we do
highlight the differences also but we
give them a basic understanding
clarifying the misconception that they
have whether it's about social issues or
about you know different religious
issues dress codes and things like this
clarify it through
misconceptions dealing with people's
misconceptions and of course this means
that we have to listen to what people
have to say
or we are listening to what people have
to say in the media and we're clarifying
it to an
audience and that is a general uh good
procedure however if you find yourself
in a situation
where a person is Raising
misconceptions not because they want to
find out
honestly what's wrong but they just want
to dis able your
dawa they want to pull the rug out from
under you you know trip you up you're
giving a talk and they're question what
about so and so and so what about so and
so they're coming all you can't even get
across the thing that you're trying to
because they're bringing all these
questions you see this person is not
really seeking understanding they just
want to make a fool of you you know to
to
disable your da so what do you do
then at this point then you can't look
at their initial
misconception you need to jump
ahead like Prophet Ibrahim did when uh
he explained to the king that his Lord
is the one who causes life and death
then the king said to
him I give life and death now he could
have stopped here to explain to him that
listen when you give life it's not the
same as when Allah gives life you're
giving life is just allowing somebody
somebody to live right you didn't kill
them so you allow them to live that's
you're giving life where Allah is one
who's giving life to the dead something
which was not living becomes living
that's Allah giving life he didn't do
that he jumped two steps ahead and he
said that Allah brings the Sun from the
East bring it from the
West okay you know if that's the your
line of reasoning then go there so
similarly for example you're giving dawa
you're somebody raised up an issue about
Pol
you're talking to them about polygamy
you know and they're starting to bring
this that and everywhere you know you
guys all the excesses that exist and
this that and the other you just ask him
hey do you think you have
monogamy monogamy you know you're you're
questioning all about this polygamy
thing here do you think you have
monogamy as if we the only ones we in
polygamy Muslims have polygamy you think
you non Muslims don't have polygamy too
you think there is monogamy in
Britain huh
is that what's going on here monogamy no
it's not the average you know married
Brit has girlfriends extramarital
Affairs Mistresses all this that's the
norm so you don't have monogamy here
that's just something you have on the
books reality is polygamy is going on
here in fact you've got more polygamy
going on here than we have in our Muslim
world you know so you just stop that you
know put it in his place you want to
look at this honestly then we look at it
from this perspective here you know
let's be
honest
um in terms of the
uh audience again leaving
misconceptions to the topics that we use
we choose to uh give our dawa with there
are things that we have to focus on and
and
um we said that toed before was what
prophet wasam stressed when going to
Christians and Jews people who have a
concept of one God that we should focus
on that so we should choose our topics
based on that understanding you're
talking to a Hindu then you have to
choose a topic you know appropriate to
his or her understanding as a
Hindu uh we also have to look at the
method by which we deliver that
message what is the method that we
use do we use an emotional method people
are coming at you with emotionalism do
you respond in
emotionalism or should you be
calm you know don't get caught up in
the the the heat of the
emotion well there are times when
emotionalism is important and it's good
and there are times when it's not
and Prophet M wasallam you know in
giving
hisas you hear the companions describing
him sometimes speaking and his eyes
would become red his voice became loud
stressing certain
points so there are times for that and
there are other times for calmness Etc
so we have to choose the appropriate uh
form of giving the
dawa uh which will effectively carry our
message across to the
people
and one of the things that we have to
also keep in
mind very important is that of gradual
progression in our daa that's page 29-
31 gradual progression in our da what
are we dealing with here that people in
general are on different
scales you have
people on the very bottom scale which is
a person who is
negligent they don't care to hear what
you have to
say not
interested you have people who are
hostile they're coming at you in a
hostile manner with you know you have
people who are
neutral okay go ahead you have people
who have shown some interest okay let's
hear what you have to say you know I
wouldn't mind finding out you have
people who are positive you know could
you you explain so and so and so and so
and so and so really you know I've been
thinking about this so and so you know
and people are on your side you know yes
I agree you know this is weapons of mass
destruction was just
a game which people use to get in to get
at the oil or whatever you know so
people are on different
scales the main idea is to try to bring
them those that are below neutral to
neutral right to bring them those who
are either aggressive or
uninterested negligent you have to do
what is necessary to get them to a
neutral position a person who's not
interested at all you have to say
something to catch their interest right
of course I mean there are different
ways to do it dawa in hide Park use the
antagonistic way
right you say something which will
antagonize them and then they get
involved in your conversation
right um that's not always a fruitful
way but to try to choose you know a a
topic which is closer to their heart
something which will touch them you know
which they hadn't thought about or which
they thought about and they uh
didn't uh find an answer for something
which will catch their interest you'll
try to in other words you choose topics
which will cause them to get involved
well yeah I'd like to know about that
you know a person who is
uh that like the example of that is like
the purpose of creation you know why
were we created it's the question
everybody asks himself sometime in his
life he asks no
answers so you know it is a it's a good
point to catch somebody's
attention because for Christians
especially and others if you ask them
why were they created what is the
purpose of their creation why did God
create you why are you here in this
world they really have no answers
because there's no clear scriptural
explanation for that now they might have
heard something here and there from a
priest or minister or whatever but you
know that's what they will Echo if they
remember it otherwise you find them
dumbfounded and okay why tell me you
know so it's a it's a useful means to
bring a person who was
disinterested didn't really care get
involved now in a
conversation the other person who is is
aggressive new uh you know coming at you
with these questions and or when you're
trying to explain something they're
always saying no I don't agree with you
no I don't think it's that way no it's
very aggressive then you have to try to
neutralize that
by the what we call the par
principle p a r
p meaning
probe P for probe p r o b e you probe
them to find out what's at the bottom of
their question what's the bottom of
their attitude why are they like this
there must be something which is causing
them to say this try to find that out
because if you can find that out then
you can align yourself that's the a you
can align yourself with them you know
this person coming about you know you
guys you know always killing mus then
you find out okay his father was killed
in the Gulf War or in Iraq or whatever
okay so you it's good you you explain
that I can understand how you feel you
know having lost your father I mean this
is something very difficult you know to
deal with and you know so you try to
align yourself you know they cutting
somebody's head off on the television
and holding his head up and you know
yeah yeah this is horrible really really
it's is something terrible you know I it
makes me sick to my stomach to see that
you know I can understand how you feel
he say your this is your line I can
understand how you feel you
know this you have aligned yourself with
them so they don't feel it's us and them
anymore they say okay this person is
sort of like on my side right so that
way you neutralize their
hostility and and then that makes them
now you from there you try to raise them
that's your r p a r you try to raise
them from that position of neutrality
now to a position of being uh interested
to one of positive and then ultimately
inshallah to
guidance so this is what we have to
assess the circumstance we have to
assess the
individual what level is that individual
is on what is his level or her level
what what's driving them to what they're
doing listen here read between the lines
don't just focus on what they're saying
but try to understand what's behind what
they're saying try to find out you hear
a person who said there's no God there
can't be a God you know you guys
believing in God this try to answer why
don't you believe there could be a god
well you know my aunt she was a really
nice person she used to help everybody
and she was this and then one day she
had a car accident bam killed her and
she was my favorite
aunt why that that was for him you know
or her as a young person there was no
explanation nobody could explain to them
why did that person have to die such a
good person Etc so that just killed in
them because there was no explanation
the idea of God because where's the the
rhyme and the reason where is the logic
that such a nice person is destroyed and
then you have these evil people all
around you and they're living and having
a happy time and you know where's the
where's the Justice here there can't be
a God so so but you find out that that's
what their problem was then you tried to
explain to them you know people lose
their lives and this type of thing you
know it doesn't necessarily mean I mean
you might see it as something evil but
there could be other things behind it
you know and you try to explain to them
you know to to neutralize those negative
feelings that just because we experien
evil it doesn't necessarily mean that
that thing is ultimately evil it might
appear to us to be evil at this point in
time but there is some good from it that
we're not able to comprehend and then we
give them that understanding through
other examples Etc so uh the principle
you know is as we said to understand
where people are coming from listen to
what they're saying find out the roots
of what is driving them and try to
neutralize their negativity bring them
to a neutral point where they're willing
to listen because if they're not
listening if they're just attacking and
you are returning their attack with
another attack and you know then of
course you're just bumping heads you're
not going anywhere you know your idea is
to convey a message and if your
discussion is one of argumentation just
pure argumentation then it's better to
stop it don't waste your time and your
energy cuz you'll come away with your
head banging in you know you say oh man
I wish I didn't do that you why did I
bother to waste my time with this no try
to catch it early see where when these
things are not going anywhere you can't
neutralize it you can't redirect
whatever then leave it you know give the
person a pamphlet instead give them a
tape you know give them something else
that they can't you know you can't what
can you tell a tape right right so just
just listen you want to listen you don't
want to listen okay you got it right at
least you've got the the message across
to them
so this is um an issue of also
uh cutting our losses we don't waste
time unnecessarily you know try to avoid
heavy
argumentation and um just as an example
you know of um trying to find uh Common
Grounds or to neutralize some people's
attitudes uh sometimes in da for example
if you're giving da to a Christian
trying to give da to a Christian and the
Christian tells you
listen I know Jesus Is
God it's not an issue I believe I know
Jesus is God okay so you say to them
okay how do you know Jesus is God right
don't start argue with them about no no
you don't really know and
no how do you know Jesus is God said
well every time that I've prayed to
Jesus when I was in need my prayers were
answered so I know Jesus is God I've
experienced Jesus in my life life you
don't know because you haven't
experienced
him right so when you have a person like
that
reason in that
belief will not benefit because they're
emotionally attached to something right
they can't reason it out so now you have
to step out of that circumstance and you
come somewhere else from the using
reason you say to them you know I have a
Hindu friend who said the same thing
I know ganish is
God and I asked him how he said because
every time I pray to ganish my prayers
were answered what do you
think what do you think and of course
the Christian if they're true Chris said
no no no no you know that elephant head
God ganish no no he didn't answer that
person's prayers no no way right no way
so then who answered the man's prayers
God he said well that's the same thing
we want to say to you
that you thought it was Jesus answering
prayers but it was
God right you take them to something
which is familiar to them you know which
they definitely they're not going to go
with that one and you bring it back you
know and show them in their own
understanding that they're missed they
missed out on this point
here so we try to give the da to people
in a gradual way don't feel we have to
give everything to them one time we try
to move them along gradually you know
sometimes of course when we awaken to
Islam you know we become very zealous
you know we want everybody to practice
Islam as we understand it now right now
you know that's another danger we have
to be aware of give people a chance to
grow to progress you know we have so
many of the laws of Islam came gradually
allowing people an opportunity to grow
with the uh guidance so similarly we try
to convey to them a reasonable amount of
the message to take them to one point
and then give them a chance you know
sometimes I know in um in we will have
you know people calling us up I have
somebody who wants to accept Islam I
said really yeah yeah yeah he's ready to
accept Islam so how do you know I gave
him a pamphlet and he accepted it wait
wait hold on did he say he wanted to
read another pamphlet did he ask you no
no no no just he accepted the pamphlet
take it easy give him a chance to read
it you know see what he says after that
right you know sometimes we become sort
of over zealous you know in the da right
so this is umah we try to allow
progression development uh in people in
the course of the
dawa
e
e e